Josh Marten is a 20-year-old photographer and cinematographer and human. He lives and works in New York City, where he studies film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is originally from Seattle, Washington. He has never met a taco he didn’t like. He only paints abstracts because his painting abilities are limited. If he is what he eats, he is a carb. He is a very strict dog-over-cat person. The most meaningful essay he has ever written is about fried chicken.

His first word was “Dede.” It wasn’t really a word. He took his first photo with his mom’s Nikon as a small child, but he didn’t manage to take anything decent until he was 14. Even then, it was likely a fluke. When he was 17, an angel gave him his first job working on the set of a music video. When he was 18, he went to business school and felt his soul withering away. When he was 19, he transferred to film school. His soul grew back bigger than before.

He has many aspirations for the future. His dream outfit involves a floor-length fur coat and a solid gold crown. He hopes to grow up to be like Roger Deakins, in terms of both cinematographic excellence and hair thickness. He maintains a long bucket list, which includes such items as conducting Anton Bruckner’s Symphony no. 9, shaking hands with a gorilla, Yoko-ing a band, and attending the Oscars in a pair of Louboutins. Red soles on red carpet.